Drivers running red lights at intersections seems to be a big problem in Auckland and as a pedestrian in the CBD especially, it doesn’t take long to see it happening. A few years ago a trial of red light cameras was initiated between the former Auckland City Council and the Police was met with stunning success in reducing this from occurring. Sadly despite the success, the cameras can’t be rolled out to other problem intersections as the law doesn’t allow for it. Even worse is that the Ministry of Transport appears to be the ones dragging the chain.
Bureaucrats are being accused of risking lives by dithering over policy guidelines for posting cameras at the country’s most dangerous intersections to stop drivers running red lights.
The Automobile Association is despairing that Government officials are trying to reinvent the wheel more than four years after the former Auckland City Council and the police launched a successful trial of digital cameras in the CBD.
Auckland Transport reported in September 2011 that three cameras rotating around 10 downtown intersections had reduced red-light running by 43 per cent and crashes attributable to such offending were down a stunning 69 per cent.
More recent figures have been unavailable from the council body, but one industry source believes no more than about 10 vehicles a week are now running lights at each site, such is the trial’s continuing effectiveness in reining in drivers.
Even so, the Ministry of Transport has missed two deadlines for producing a national policy for cameras to be introduced to other potentially lethal sites such as in Manukau and elsewhere around the country, although it says it is working hard to complete the task.
“We’ve missed a couple of deadlines but we’re still working to put out the best policy we can,” a spokesman said.
But AA spokesman Simon Lambourne says the Auckland trial has confirmed the effectiveness of site selection criteria and the delay is unacceptable after crashes involving vehicles running red lights caused 10 deaths and 194 serious injuries nationally over five years to the end of 2011.
“It’s simply not good enough – the Ministry of Transport is now trying to reinvent the wheel and the police bureaucracy is not supporting this as much as it should, given the road safety benefits,” he said.
“The Government often talks about cutting red tape and making New Zealand a more productive economy but here’s a classic example where they could cut the red tape and improve the safety and lives of New Zealanders.
“These crashes have an average annual social cost to New Zealand of about $47 million.”
Mr Lambourne said Auckland Transport calculated a return of $8.20 for every $1 of the $750,000 invested in the trial in its first three years, and there had been unprecedented support for red light cameras from 75 per cent of surveyed Aucklanders.
I don’t know how many other issues have such widespread support, and would be so effective. The fact that the ministry appear to be mucking around over this is absurd. What’s worse is it appears that part of the reason for the delay is that officials are worried about there being too many of them.
Institute vice-president John Gottler said the Government had evidently been worried needlessly about facing demands for red-light cameras at intersections throughout the country.
“Unfortunately, there was this perception that every signal in the whole country was going to have a speed camera, and that’s not true.”
In delivering its report to the ministry before Christmas, the institute also identified a range of measures such as altering traffic light phasing.
Mr Gottler said that meant no more than 20 to 40 sites throughout the country should need cameras as the ultimate driver behaviour modification tool, backed by existing fines of $150.
Auckland was likely to need most of them, given that offending was far more prevalent there than anywhere else, to be followed by Christchurch and Wellington “and then the rest of them will be scattered here and there”.
But ultimately it would be up to the Government to provide financial support to match local efforts and to the minister to say:
“I’m going to invest in saving lives”.
It doesn’t often happen but I fully support the AA in this case. The MoT need to pull their finger out and get this legislation in place.
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I wish Auckland Transport could go it alone on this. Could be a brilliant money earner.
That’s a very worrying comment Mr Anderson. Surely the purpose is road safety, not revenue? I support this concept (I’m one of those people who stops or at least slows down at green lights in the night hours), but it concerns me that revenue should immediately come up as a reason for having them, as that suggests an authoritarian mindset.
BTW, I’ve noticed that the behaviour of cyclists in this regard seems to have improved markedly in recent months – has there been a campaign to stamp it out? Or is it the green cycle box doing its job? Initially I was a bit puzzled by this term (when I first heard it I thought it meant somewhere to lock up your bike) but they seem to work well in most situations.
A tax on doing illegal things that endanger others is not a problem for me… and running red lights is one of the easiest things to avoid. Much easier to keep legal there than evenwith speed limits (though I don’t buy the excuses there either).
In some cities – Boston, Auckland – I do a Mississippi-one-Missisippi-two when the light goes green to avoid being t-boned by someone claiming colour-blindness…
That’s a good idea jb. I don’t count, but I certainly take care. I know you’re joking, however my father was colourblind, but explained that (a) red is on the top & green is on the bottom (duh!), and (b) the red is biased towards orange and the green is biased towards blue, so are distinguishable to colourblind people.
Also, if you are THAT strongly vision-impaired that you can’t correctly perceive traffic lights, you are not allowed to drive a car. Full stop. One person’s right to get around despite a disability does not outweigh the rights of others to be protected from griveous bodily harm.
How many red light cameras is too many? IMHO Auckland can’t have enough, red light running is so bad. I have a dash camera app on my phone (sorry, work has me driving more this year!) and am steadily collecting examples.
Why would this be a money earner for AT? Surely the cash would go to the Police?
I’m sure this is the real reason why this hasn’t yet gone beyond trial stage. arguements over revenue. If it is truly about safety, any profit should go to road safety improvements.
Or enforcement
Or re-invested in more cameras, the source of a tax doesn’t necessitate the money needs to be spent in the same area, taxes are collected to be spent on what needs money. This is about safety and the trials showed that simply the possibility of a camera being present resulted in huge safety improvements there’s no need for any revenue to be spent physical work.
This sounds more like Steven Joyce dragging the chain as he doesn’t like things infringing on the ‘freedom’ of motorists. Pretty well at all intersections in Auckland I witness on a daily basis people blatantly driving through well after a red light, and abusing bus lanes is up there as well in terms of drivers refusing to obey the law. When will buses be fitted with camera to catch people abusing bus lanes?
Another possible factor: ‘back office staff’ work on policy. Cutting them as directed causes delays.
“Unfortunately, there was this perception that every signal in the whole country was going to have a speed camera, and that’s not true.”
Why is it not true? Surely a safety device that catches law-breakers is useful, and should be deployed as widely as is practical (for maintenance, cost-recovery, safety, and other purposes).
The price of imaging technology continues to drop rapidly, and there is no reason to think that within a decade much of the cost of such installations will be lower than it is now. Some costs such as creating and installing secure housings will remain near their present level, of course, but even these could reduce on a per-site basis with economies of scale.
Mr Gottler said that meant no more than 20 to 40 sites throughout the country should need cameras as the ultimate driver behaviour modification
Where did Mr Gottler get this magical figure from? I know about 100 sites in Auckland alone which could do with red-light cameras. It sounds like he’s protecting his turf by asking for a full range of other measures to be implemented before this one.
Don’t hate on the guy who is actually trying to get MORE of the things…
Actually, he’s trying to push policy towards having cameras in a very restricted role. That’s a problem.
He only wants 20 cameras in the entire country. He said that. 20 is a bigger number than we have now, but only sightly. He put 40 as the upper limit, deliberately saying no more than that should be installed. I’m not sure why he thinks this, but it seems that he’s worried about public perception, and the possibility of a backlash from the reactionary and vocal section of our society.
People who liked breaking the law complained bitterly when seatbelt enforcement happened. People who liked breaking the law complained bitterly when drink driving enforcement happened. People who like breaking the law complained bitterly when speed cameras happened. Those same people will complain bitterly when these cameras are put across our cities. Good lawmakers ignore such people. Those trying to shape policy should not ask us to back down to such people before they’ve even complained.
George, you are a suspicious person. And for all I know, you could be right. But I don’t think you are. In any situation where there’s opposition, its the oldest tactic in the book to ask for a little now, and when that gets granted, to ramp it up. To say that someone who asks for X+1 would never consider X+2 (or X+20 or X+2000) is in my opinion shortsighted.
“He put 40 as the upper limit, deliberately saying no more than that should be installed.”
He hasn’t said that. While you are implying how he FEELS and THINKS about things, I can at least point out that he says “should be needed”. Which leaves all the needed wriggle room for him (or someone else) to later say – “Well, they are working PERFECTLY at doing what they are supposed to be doing. Just 20 wasn’t really enough. More needed.”
But most of all, lets not bash people calling for more cameras. Lets ask for more cameras.
I’m not suspicious of this guy, I think he’s quite sincere and means what he said. I’m suspicious of the ground we walk on.
Once something is ‘defined’ psychologically as a limited instrument it can be very hard to overturn that, especially where that limited form has been defined as a result of opposition – however thin that may have been. Local and central government politicians look at an issue, and if they see a fight they shy away from it unless they’re particularly motivated to take it on. It can take decades, until a new equilibrium is able to be established. Witness any number of parsimonious measures.
So they plow ahead on their pet motorways, but simple road safety improvements like this take years?
Red light running is rampant in this country. Something needs to be done sooner rather than later. I’m sure its getting worse each year. Seems like it anyway. I actually get surprised when I see people stopping on yellow lights these days. The norm seems to be to put the foot down.
I tend to agree… After being the first in a row to stop at an amber right arrow recently, I was rather surprised as the driver behind me sped up and overtook my car in the face of on-coming traffic. Police need to be out to deal with people who are in such a hurry, maybe run a motorcade for them full-speed to jail.
…or maybe I’m just a year older and that little less tolerant of impatient nutters.
At some intersections in the CBD in rush hour – eg Hobson & Victoria – the disregard for the lights is so brazen it’s gobsmacking. Pack mentality kicks in whereby peeps think if others are running red lights or going into intersections they know they can’t exit from due to congestion, then all bets are off. Red light cameras? Some basic traffic policing would clean up a lot of it.
Actually, if you know of particular black spots where you see this kind of behavior, send a letter to the police commander for that area requesting patrols to action the problem – they’ll likely do it.
This should be a no brainer really. I can recall numerous times I have waited on a green light, waited until the red light runners are all gone.If everyone can start when the light turns green traffic flow will be faster.
I wonder if any member of the public has tested the law, in providing photos of red light runners to the Police and requesting that they prosecute the drivers? I know an Auckland newspaper did this a while back but there was never a followup article. I report drivers every day on the NZ Police Roadwatch website, and I must have done so for 300+ red light runners over the past few years. I’ve also suggested to the Police that they sit at Broadway/Remuera Rd intersection in the early mornings to get an idea on the scale of the problem. With the red light cameras still looking a way off maybe its time to get myself a new car from someone else’s insurance policy by boldly running a few green lights?
From my own experience of reporting red light runners, tens of them, at the New North Road/Blockhouse Bay Road intersection, I can only concur that the police aren’t interested in pursuing red light runners whatsoever. The only thing that has happened is that I’ve been verbally abused and, in one instance, chased down the road by a red light runner who insisted that I delete the photographed evidence of his infringement. Police do seem, however, in attributing as much blame as they can to pedestrians (see passim). Oddly enough a CCTV camera has gone up at said intersection recently but I suspect that’s just so that AT can monitor the queues of cars ‘inconvenienced’ by the rail crossing at St Jude’s Street and adjust the red light cycles accordingly. Mind you, there could be a crowd of pedestrians waiting to cross but there would be no ‘adjustment’ to the pedestrian crossing cycles! The New Zealand police share the mindset of AT that pedestrians are an unfortunate inconvenience to their shared aim of more cars, faster.